My club has three officers, President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer. We have no board of directors. All of the club business is conducted openly during regular meetings, including expenditure of funds. Sometimes the officers will meet to sign paperwork or meet with public officials, but any member is welcome to attend these meeting if they so choose.

Thanks to everyone who has responded! It seems very clear that most all Board meetings are either open to members or are held during a general meeting of the membership. This gives a fair amount of sunlight on actions taken by leadership.

At the time I posted the original query, I was a new board member of the Jackson MS ARC (JARC) and was told that what happened in Board meetings could not be revealed outside of the Board itself. I found this incompatible with the club's Bylaws but was told by the Officers that this was the "way it was".

Subsequently, I raised a question about an apparent effort to oust the long-standing Public Service Chairman when he could not accommodate a special VE session request over the same weekend period as the nearby MFJ 40th Anniversary/ARRL Day in the Park was held and a race event on the Natchez Trace that the club routinely supported was occurring. The special VE session was specifically for a local affiliate of the MS Preppers Association whose State Chairman was on the TSA No-Fly List. When I raised what I felt was a due-diligence question as a Board member of whether the JARC should be training members of a group whose leader is an outspoken anti-government paramilitary advocate, I was asked by certified letter to resign from the Board. I only asked for an open Board discussion of the matter, regardless of the decision.

I initially refused to resign on principle until I had finished my duties as Forum Coordinator for the Capital City Hamfest. I also began investigating the openness of other club's Boards to see how common this 'code of silence' was. No other club that I've found operates this way. By keeping unprofessional conduct like this in the shadows of secrecy, it allows unethical Board members free reign to act as they please. After the Hamfest, I resigned since I had better things to do than try to work with that level of unprofessionalism in a volunteer association.

As an official of the ARRL Delta Division, I've just completed the 2013 Survey of Members. It shows that most clubs are led fairly effectively to the satisfaction of their membership. However, there is a clear minority of clubs with nefarious club leaders who create a hostile inner-circle atmosphere that leads to exiting membership. This report should be posted on the Delta Division's website soon. I believe it would be a good read for all those who have posted here!

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